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Realms of the Dragons
Realms of the Dragons, edited by Philip Athans, is the ninth anthology of stories from the Forgotten Realms. All the short stories relate in some way to the horrific Year of Rogue Dragons. Contents Soulbound By Paul S. Kemp Date: Kemp writes of the First Demarch of the Hall of Shadows, Avnon Des the Seer who arose from his meditation one day in Year of the False Hopes, -646 DR to find himself, his temple and its inhabitants moved from Elgrin Fau, the City of Silver, to the Shadow Plane by Kesson Rel, the first Chosen of the Shadow God. Avnon and his fellow demarchs had marked him as a heretic for drinking from the Chalice and transforming into a creature of shadow, and so Kesson had sought revenge by bringing the temple to the Shadow Plane and soul binding a shadow dragon, Furlinastis, into his service. He orders the dragon to bring one of the priests before him every day and kill them, since Kesson's oaths prevent him from killing the demarchs himself. Avnon sought to decipher his god's will, as there is no way for them to escape that particular stretch of the Shadow Plane or combat the dragon, and found that the Shadow God wished to determine whose faith was strongest and would not aid them. The next time the dragon came to collect a priest, Avnon tells him that if he wishes to free himself of Kesson, he must collect him next. Furlinastis returns to Kesson and tricks him into doing as Avnon suggested. Unbeknownst to Kesson, Avnon has killed the other priests with their permission and assimilated their souls. Avnon binds the dragon to an oath of cooperation; that in the future, when the First and the Second Chosen of the Shadow God pursue Kesson, he would aid them. After Furlinastis kills Avnon the souls he collected fly into the dragon and defeat Kesson’s soul, freeing the dragon. Kesson, however, manages to flee. First Flight By Edward Bolme Date: Bolme describes the story of Serreg, an archwizard under Lady Polaris in Delia, who studied a blight which seemed to hit all the land the floating city passes above. After deducting that the blight is a magical spell coming from under the earth, Serreg goes to investigate, but is no match for the phaerimm he finds there. While fleeing for his life, his prayers are heard by Targus, who grants him a dagger of polymorphing, with which he slays the phaerimm, polymorphing randomly several times. Finally, he polymorphed into a dragon, and with his superior intellect understood that each time he used the dagger it would polymorph him into something random. As a dragon, he was now unconcerned with mortal matters such as the plague, so he tore the dagger (which was morphed into a claw) from his body and used it as a start of his treasure stash. Gorlist's Dragon By Elaine Cunningham Date: 1301 DR The Keeper of Secrets By Ed Greenwood Date: 1339 DR In Waterdeep Mirt the Moneylender and Durnan the Wanderer go to collect debts from a mysterious "Keeper of Secrets" and find secrets of in the city they knew nothing about from a cryptic woman named Taraunramorlamurla. The Topaz Dragon By Jess Lebow Date: 1360 DR Wickless in the Nether By R. A. Salvatore Date: 1368 DR In the short story, Salvatore describes the first encounter between Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle and the famed dragon sisters Tazmikella and Ilnezhara of Heliogabalus, Damara in Year of the Banner, 1368 DR. This event is referred to in Road of the Patriarch, when Entreri reminds Jarlaxle that the dragons sisters played them for fools. In the story, Tazmikella, appearing as a plain shopkeeper, tells of how an item of great sentimental value is in the possession of Ilnezhara. Tazmikella hires Entreri and Jarlaxle to steal this item, but soon they find out their foe's power is beyond their comprehension when they find out she is an ancient and powerful copper dragon. Ilnezhara then commands the two to go and kill Tazmikella for her in return for allowing them to live. After this encounter, they journey to kill Tazmikella and find out not only is Tazmikella Ilnezhara's sister, but also a copper dragon of great power. Jarlaxle and Entreri agree to work for the two dragon sisters. Serpestrillvyth By Richard Baker Date: The month of Flamerule in 1368 DR Waylaid By Thomas M. Reid Date: The month of Marpenoth in 1371 DR Standard Delving Procedure By Lisa Smedman Date: 7 Eleint in 1372 DR An Icy Heart By Voronica Whitney-Robinson Date: 16 Alturiak in 1373 DR Penitential Rites By Keith Francis Strohm Date: 6 Ches in 1373 DR How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth By Dave Gross Date: 25 Ches in 1373 DR Beer with a Fat Dragon By Don Bassingthwaite Date: Late Tarsakh in 1373 DR The Prisoner of Hulburg By Richard Lee Byers Date: 1st and 2nd of Mirtul in 1373 DR Category:Novels Category:Anthologies Category:Published in 2004 Category:Books